Why is Society so Hard on Women?

(this is third in a series started Sept. 13)

The discrimination and prejudice against women was part of society from ancient times, and remarks from history show the continued bigotry and inequality in the church.  The examples are truly shocking.

Plato, 427bc;  “Females are inferior to males in every way”
 

Aristotle, 384 bc;  “The male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject.”

Rabbinical teaching during Jesus day; “Let the words of the Law be burned rather than committed to women…if a man teaches his daughter the law, it is as though he taught her lewdness.”

Saint Augustine, 480; “What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother; it is still Eve the temptress that we must be aware of in any woman…I fail to see what use women can be to man  if one excludes  the function of bearing children.”

Thomas Acquinas, 1254;  “The woman is subject to man, on account of the weakness of her nature, both of mind and of body…woman is in subjection according to the law of nature, a slave is not. Children ought to love their father more than their mother.”

Martin Luther, 1483;  “Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips, and accordingly they possess intelligence. Women have narrow shoulders and broad hips. Women ought to stay at home; the way they were created indicates this, for they have broad hips and a wide fundament to sit upon, keep house, and raise children.”

John Knox, 1514;  “Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey men.”

We don’t believe these things any more, but the underlying feeling is still there. Where did it come from?

Not in creation

Gen 1:27-28  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

God created male and female as equals, and made then co-regents to care for and rule over the earth.

Not from the first man.

Gen 2:23-24  Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

From Adams reaction to the woman God created, we see a beautiful equality. Adam said, “She is just like me!...We are meant to be in unity.”

It started with the fall, in Genesis three, where sin, fear, shame and blame entered the picture.

After the woman, then the man, ate of the fruit that God had forbidden, they were ashamed and afraid.

When God confronted them, the man blamed the woman, and the woman blamed the serpent.

God then tells them the consequences of their action.

He told the woman, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

And to the man, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.”

From this time, the man and woman went from being in a great partnership to having struggles in all relationships. When sin entered, every relationship was impacted.  Because of sin, the nurturing, relational woman would long for intimacy with her husband:  the bolder, more assertive, stronger man would be the dominate one. This is because of fallen sinful nature, not because part of the original plan.  

In the following chapter, we see every effect of sin; jealousy, violence, murder, and polygamy.

Gen 4:8  Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Gen 4:23  Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

This starts the pattern of violence being used to gain power and control. Biggest and strongest rule. Women come out on bottom of this. This system became so ingrained that it seemed like the right, the natural, normal way. This has been part of human culture since the fall. The biggest and strongest, or the ones with the best weapons, rule over the weaker.  Humans have fought that battle ever since.

But, Jesus came to end it.